Red Cloud Love (Remake)
by Dot-Sensei
Summary: An Itachi fangirl and a Tobi fangirl are about to go into fan girl heaven for all Naruto fans: the actual world of Naruto! But, being a normal teenage girl in the world of ninjas isn't easy for anyone, and these girls are no exception!
1. Chapter 1

**(Author's notes: Welcome to the remake of RCL! Right now, the story's plot might look familiar, but I promise you, things will be a whole lot different this time around with the story. Enjoy!)**

It was graveyard shift at the book store. The store was empty, save for the one worker still there: Ruth. There was another worker, her friend Abby, but she was out at the post office collecting a, as she put it, "an uber awesome present that's so full of uber awesome I think my head will explode." This was probably some really stupid present or just an excuse for Abby to go out and get some food, but Ruth could care less. Right now, it was just her and the store's manga book collection, alone for another night of reading.

She tucked some of her black hair out of her face and got comfortable with the latest volume of _Naruto_. This volume, she hoped to see more of her favorite character: Itachi Uchiha. Itachi was her favorite for many reasons, most of which could be summed up in the fan girl phrase of "he's hot."

Just then, the door of the store burst open. The little bell rang, and Abby appeared, giant cardboard box in hand. "Yooo!" she cried out, loud enough to wake everyone within a two mile radius.

"Hey, Abb'," greeted Ruth. "I see that you're happy."

Abby shook her head, wildly-grinning. "You betcha!" She put the box down on a nearby counter and arched her back, rubbing it and grumbling to herself before turning back to gawking over the box. Abby was a good friend to Ruth. To sum her up, she was nice to just about anyone but herself. She was a little overweight, and she was obviously self conscious about that. She wore gold-framed glasses that she had had for years now and still had her hair dyed black from when she cosplayed as Tobi from _Naruto_ a few months ago. You can probably guess who she fangirls over in her free time.

After watching her friend drool for a while, Ruth finally asked, "So, what's even in this box?"

"Oh, I don't know!" her friend exclaimed happily, her natural curls slightly bouncing with her giddiness. "It's a present from that one guy I met at the anime convention. He was so nice. I can't actually believe he got me this stuff, God, I need to hug him when I see him next time!"

Ruth cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "Let me guess. It's yaoi, isn't it?"

"No!" Abby shouted in defense. "He's a guy, why would he happily buy me yaoi?" Talking faster and faster with each word, she began to rant. "I mean, it must be extremely embarrassing to have to go to the store, actually be seen, potentially by friends or teachers or even relatives, buying explicit guy-on-guy books? And how can you even have a shred of dignity in your eyes when you have to look at the cashier as you check out the books? And how, in the name of God, are you supposed to sneak the books, some of them possibly shrink-wrapped to keep little kids from peeking into them, into the house and not have to be humiliated when you have to explain it all to your parents? Do you think any guy would want to go through all of that? But yeah, some of it is yaoi."

"I figured," sighed Ruth.

"Now, let's open this bad boy up, shall we?" asked Abby as she went into the store's back room to search for a box cutter.

"Absolutely not," protested Ruth. "For one, I don't want the manager to come back and find us with our noses in this crap and two, I really don't wanna know what rocks your boat."

Abby would have started whining back at her in protest, but Abby had just the card up her sleeve to get Ruth to agree with her. "Ya know," she said slyly, "if there's one thing that I'm 100% sure that I make sure my convention buddy got for me, it was _Naruto_ yaoi."

Ruth was listening now. "_N-Naruto_ yaoi?" she echoed, her face starting to get red.

"Mhm. Hot, steamy _Naruto_ yaoi. I made it very clear to my good buddy that he better make sure that it was Akatsuki yaoi. I didn't want anything but. He told me during an IM session that a lot of the good ones that he found happened to have Itachi in them."

"Alright, I'll help!" shouted Ruth, admitting defeat. She rushed into the back room and started looking around in a frenzy. "Where is that box cutter?" she screamed.

"Five bucks a book," said Abby, putting her hands on her hips and walking out back towards the box. "And if you take way too long to read it, it'll cost you extra."

"I don't care!" exclaimed Ruth as she put the box cutter in her friend's hand. "Just open it!"

Without hesitation, Abby cut the tape open. As the box's flaps were slowly lifted, both girls could swear they heard an angelic choir nearby. They were about to enter fan girl heaven.

And that entrance to fan girl heaven was immediately blocked. On top was a large scroll. The paper of the scroll had a yellow tint to it and was only held shut by a tea green ribbon. There were books underneath, but they were obscured by the scroll.

"Abby."

"Yeah, Ruth?"

"What in the name of Hell is this?"

"I don't know. Don't ask me," snapped Abby as she gingerly pulled the scroll out of the box and set it on the table.

The girls stood there, examining their peculiar present, just wondering. "Maybe it's one of those fancy scroll-things you buy and they paint your name on it in Calligraphy?" guessed Ruth.

"I don't think so. This looks a bit large to just have my name on it, or something."

Ruth slapped a hand to her forehead and groaned. "I give up!"

"Let's just open it, then," mumbled Abby.

The girls slowly undid the knot that kept the scroll bound. They took a step back as the scroll unrolled itself a bit.

"W-Well," murmured Abby.

"Open it up," urged Ruth. "I'm just curious now."

Shifting the scroll so that it had more room on the table, Abby slowly opened the rest of the scroll. It was long, and the scroll slid off the table with a thump. On the scroll, was writing neither of the girls could identify, though Ruth figured it was probably Japanese and could somewhat make out a couple symbols.

"What the hell is this?" asked Abby.

"I really don't know," said Ruth.

"Well, it must be important if he sent it to me."

"Yeah, good point. Maybe we could tell what's so important if he wrote it in something we actually kn—"

Ruth was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. She shared a nervous glance with her friend before slowly walking to the phone and answering it. "Hello?"

"Ruth?" said the voice on the other line. It was their manager. He didn't sound pleased.

"Oh, Mr. Bales. How nice to hear your voice," Ruth said shakily.

"Oh, don't you try sweet talking me! You've been goofing off, haven't you?"

And now they were caught. Ruth shared another look with her friend and then tried her best to lie. "Oh, Mr. Bales! How could you think of such a thing? I mean, that's the first time you've ever asked that!"

"Ruth, if you and Abby don't have that store in tip-top shape when I get back or, I swear to God, I'm going to fire you."

Ruth tried not to gasp. It sounded like their boss was having a rough night, and he was using them to vent. "A-Alright. But the store's pretty clean already. I don't think there's much we can really do."

"Did you organize the latest shipment?" the man asked impatiently.

"Yeah, I got started on it, but I took a break."

"Did you spiffy up the display case?"

"That's Abby's job, and she just got back."

"From doing what?"

"Uh, uh, I don't know. She had an important package to go pick up. She just got back maybe five minutes ag—"

"Get that slacker over here," demanded Mr. Bales. "You know how I am with people who skip out on their jobs!"

"Alright, alright," said Ruth. "Abby!" she said, turning her head and covering the mouthpiece of the phone with one hand. "Get over here. Bales wants to talk to you."

"I kind of can't right now, Ruth."

"Why not?" huffed Ruth, putting the phone down. "I swear to God, if you make him fire me, I am going to kick your ass!"

"Ruth, the scroll is kind of glowing. I really don't care about Bales right now."

Ruth was about to put her hands on her hips and ask her friend what she was talking about, but then she saw exactly what she meant. The scroll was indeed glowing. The symbols on the scroll were glowing green, and the light was slowly creeping upwards towards her friend.

"Abby, get away from that!" shouted Ruth.

When Ruth picked the phone back up, she heard her boss asking, "What the hell is going on in there? What have you two done now?"

"Um, um, listen, Mr. Bales. I really have to go. We're having a bit of a problem here. Call back in, like, ten minutes, ok?"

"What, are you getting robbed?" asked the man, skeptical. "Do I need to get down there? Maybe even call the cops?"

"Ruth, hang up already!" shouted Abby. "Seriously, the light's already eaten the table!" The curly-haired girl was backing up. And she wasn't lying about the table, either. The whole table, box, scroll, and all, were glowing the same green. And the light was still growing outwards.

"Hang on!" Ruth turned back to the phone. "Mr. Bales, I seriously have to go now."

"Ok, just what is going on in there? Did I hear something about a table? Are you two morons breaking my stuff again?"

"No! It's just that seriously, I really need to hang up."

"Ruth, help me! It got my foot!"

"Damn it, Abby, I said hold on!" Ruth shouted at her panicking friend. This was only getting worse and worse. "Mr, Bales, sorry to be rude, it's just that—"

"Ok, I am seriously just going to come down there," the man interrupted, now worried. "This sounds really bad. Are you sure I don't need to call the police?"

"No, no, I think we don't need to get the cops involved. Just please, hurry down here!"

"Alright, alright. I'll be there in about 15 minutes. Just hold on."

"Mr. Bales, I really don't think we can do that!" shouted Ruth. She was looking back towards the light. It was growing outwards and was getting close to her. Abby was frozen in place, the light crawling up her body.

Before another word could be said, a blinding flash of green exploded through the store. And just like that, both girls and the light were gone.

"Ruth? Ruth? Ruth, what the hell?" the man shouted. No answer.

The man quickly snapped his cell phone shut. He was starting to sweat now. What had happened? Was the store being robbed? Were his employees being held hostage, or, even worse, dead?

He shook his head and left the light of the lamppost he had been leaning against. He walked quickly into the night, back towards his store.

Meanwhile, at the now empty store, a figure walked in. He was pale with short, dark hair. You could say he was Asian to a certain degree. His small eyes glanced around the store. Walking towards the back, he saw what he was looking for. The scroll was there, but now the writing was gone. "Well then," he said to himself, smiling. "Looks like my little game has begun." With those words, he disappeared, leaving the store empty once again.

**Author's Note: Update, 2/21. RCL now has an official cover now! It's just for chapter one. I would like to take special note that these covers are not by me, but by a good friend of mine Ruth. She may be planning to do a cover for each chapter, so I'll keep you guys updated. Thank you and I hope you like it! ~Dot-Sensei  
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	2. Chapter 2

Ruth woke up slowly, the world a blur to her groggy eyes. As the world cleared up, what had happened flashed into her mind and shot up. "Abby!" she yelled out.

She looked around, growing more panicked as she failed to see her co-worker. Nothing but a green forest with light blue skies hardly peaking out through miniscule gaps in the trees. An occasional bird looked back at her and quietly chirped. Last she saw, her co-worker had been taken by the mystical force. She hoped, she hoped hard. _Dead! _her mind screamed. _She's dead!_

'Abby!" she screamed out again, enough to rattle the birds from the nearby trees. Ruth froze as she once again heard nothing. "No. No, no, no..."

"...eh?"

Ruth blinked.

"Nyeh?" murmured the familiar voice of her friend.

Ruth glanced to where Abby's voice came from. Her friend had managed to sit up, through her eyes were squinted, almost shut as she struggled to see through her broken glasses. Her hair was messy with small curls shooting out in every direction, with bits of grass and leaf stuck in the strands. Blind and dirtied, but luckily alive. "Ruth?" she muttered.

Before she realized it, she had quickly scrambled to her friend and grabbed her shoulders. "Oh, God, you're alive!"

Abby blinked. "I am." She shook her head and chuckled. "I guess I am."

Both girls' heads turned upwards. "Where are we?" Abby asked.

Ruth stared up at the dark green above her. She flinched as the leaves shook with life. "I... I don't know."

As the two continued to look at what little sky they could see, they pondered and grew more worried. Where were they? Were they even still on their planet anymore? If they weren't, would they ever find their way back home? How long would it be until then? How long could they even survive?

Pat. Pat. Pat

"Huh?"

Pat-pat. Pat-pat. Pat-pat-pat.

Ruth's head shot to the side. The sound of someone approaching. The sound was growing more tense and quick.

"Abby!" Ruth whispered as she scooted away to the black shade of the trees as quickly as she could.

"Huh? What is it?" her friend asked plainly, oblivious to Ruth's panic and the noise.

Even quicker the footsteps grew. Now whoever it was was running. Just barely, Ruth could see a vague outline of someone in the trees nearby.

"Ruth?"

Ruth quickly grabbed her friend's arm and dove both of them into the shade. They tumbled on the rather unkind ground. Pain shot through Ruth's arm, but she kept quiet.

Abby, not so much. "What the hell, Ruth?"

Ruth clamped her hand over Abby's mouth. "Shut up!" she hissed as her arm throbbed with the pain of movement.

Quietly as she could, Ruth moved even farther into the shadows, holding onto her friend and keeping her as close to her body as she could. When they had what little light that was in their area a few yards from arm's reach, they stopped. They stopped and listened, holding their breath as they watched for their unwelcome guest.

Their guest arrived. A thin person with long, flowing hair. The long dark cloth coat they wore also flew freely, the edges of it torn from running through the brush. They rushed past the two, and a drop of blood hit the ground.

"Abby," Ruth began to whisper.

The figure's steps slowed down. The girls could hear very soft grunts as the patter of footsteps started to die down. Their guest dropped with a somewhat sickening thud on the tough soil.

The two girls slowly looked at each other. No noise.

Ruth was the first of the two to slowly crawl out into the open, Abby trembling as she followed. Ruth looked to the figure. In the dark, they were only a crumpled pathetic pile on the ground without the slightest bit of movement.

Ruth rose to her knees as Abby moved beside her. "Ruth!" her friend whispered sternly as she went.

Abby's words were ignored and she watched her friend with worry until she forced herself up and walked alongside Ruth to the fallen person.

The person looked up with fear at the two with large, pale blue eyes. Their fingers curled into the dirt, desperate to move away.

"Are you alright?" Abby asked as Ruth dropped in front of the person and tried to help them sit up.

The person's eyes widened. "Go away..."

"No!" Abby said back in an instant. "You're hurt!"

"Please. Get away. Go, go..."

The person and Ruth stared in terror as shadows crawled over Abby.

"Pardon us, but you'll need to leave," a calm, deep voice said as the owner of the voice smirked.

Abby pivoted around. She had to stare up at the intruder. Hair black as the shadows and matching eyes that pierced into Abby's soul. "Who are you?" she managed to mumble out.

His hand quickly shoved Abby to the ground. His cloak barely flapped as he moved past her, his foot stepping hard into her body.

He approached Ruth. "You. Move. That boy and I have a little meeting to attend to."

Ruth tried to stand as boldly as she could to the man that towered over her. "What kind of meeting?"

He leaned in. "None of your business, little girl." He roughly pushed her away. "Now, piss off."

Ruth quickly made it back to her feet as the man grabbed the young boy. He walked past her, feeling pride pulsing through his veins, but he kept his calm.

He felt Ruth drive her fist into his back. He turned to her. Her face was harsh, glaring into his eyes as best as she could.

He blinked. In a flash, he drew out a kunai and slashed the girl across the chest. She stood for a second, eyes wide at him. He kicked her in the chest, and she crashed to the ground. "You shouldn't have done that, brat."

Abby dropped beside Ruth. "Ruth!" she cried as she threw her body over her friend's.

Ruth blinked. "Itachi..." she mumbled before passing out.

"What?" Abby whispered.

Itachi approached the remaining girl. He turned his head and called out, "Kisame!"

Abby's eyes widened in disbelief as a tall man with sickly blue skin walked up to his partner. His eyes were small, and his pupils simple black dots. A large sword handle poked out behind his broad shoulders. "What is it?" his gruff voice mumbled.

"What should we do with these two?"

Kisame shrugged. "Leave them. They're not going to be of any use, are they?"

Itachi made a displeased grunt. "No. We can't trust this one. She'll run."

"What, you wanna take them?"

Itachi turned around and shifted the boy's body on his shoulder. "Go ahead. Hidan will probably have some fun with them."

Kisame frowned at Itachi, sighed, and then walked over and crouched over Abby.

Before Abby could struggle back at all, he had grabbed her and thrown her onto her back. His hands cupped over her throat easily. "Relax," he mumbled, emotionless as he stared back at his new captive, whose eyes were wet with fearful tears. "It'll be over pretty soon."

Abby started to feel things get light as Kisame's hands tightened around her to quicken the job. She whimpered and squirmed as hard as she could, but to no avail. As everything faded, her last thoughts cried in her mind: _Why me? Why?_

Both girls down, Kisame let go of the one he just strangled. He stood over the two bodies, groaning as he realized he was the one who had to carry all this weight back to base. "Damn it, Itachi," he growled as he squatted over the body of Ruth and clumsily picked her up.

Managing her body over his shoulder, he slung the second girl over his free shoulder, and went on his way. With a couple hundred pounds of extra weight on him, his pace was painfully slow. He cursed under his breath. "Useless dead weight brats. Hopefully they won't be around for long."


	3. Chapter 3

Ruth started to wake up again. She wasn't sure what little she was seeing in her foggy vision was or what she was smelling. She flinched as she remembered what happened before she passed out. _Am I dead?_ She wondered.

"...-sempai?"

Ruth could start to hear someone talking. Whoever it was, they were excited about something.

"...Deidara-sempai?"

Deidara? Why did that name sound so familiar?

"Do you think...them?"

Ruth mentally groaned in anger. She wasn't all there still, so whoever was talking kept fading in and out.

"Deidara-sempai, do you think the leader will let us keep them?"

"Tobi, why do you think that _I_, of all people, would know?" snapped another person. His voice was much deeper than the other person speaking, and he growled "Hn," after his outburst.

The yelling had snapped Ruth a bit more awake. "Huh?" she weakly murmured as she raised her head up. She could see two men, one with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail and the other, with short spiky hair and an orange mask over his face, talking nearby. Sitting near both of them, she could see steaming cups of tea that smelled much more fragrant to her now.

"Hey, look, Sempai! One of them's awake!"

In a flash, the masked one was at Ruth's side, looking all over her with the one eye-hole in his mask, and occasionally poked at her body. "Hey, are you alright? You were pretty dead-looking when you got here!"

"Er..." Ruth sat up and tried to brace herself against the wall. "I..."

"Do you want some tea?"

Suddenly, the masked one groaned and fell to the floor, hit by the blonde man. "Tobi, please," he groaned. "Shut up, hn."

"Sorry, Deidara-sempai..."

Ruth blinked, and her eyes went wide. "N-No way! Are you guys really Deidara and Tobi?" she blurted out before she could think.

Deidara was taken back by her statement. He frowned sternly. _How could that girl know who I am? _His eyes narrowed. _There wasn't any sort of headband on her, so she can't be from around this area, maybe not even this country. Itachi-san and Kisame-san said they found a whole box of books near where they found these two. The contents of those books were really strange. They had pictures of us in some of __them. Hmph. Really strange. I'll have to look into just who they are._

Deidara had started to head for the door. Meanwhile, Tobi had already gotten back up, not bothered at all by Deidara punching him in the head and sending him in the floor, and was already going on and on to their captive.

"Of course I'm Tobi! I'm the only Tobi anyone has ever heard of! Are you saying there are other Tobis out there? Are they friendly? Do they know about me?" He leaned in closer with every excited sentence he babbled off.

Ruth smiled uncomfortably. She had no clue why Tobi was going on about this or exactly how to answer. "I. . . Hey. Is my friend OK?"

Both Deidara, who was in the doorway, and Tobi stared at her now. "Friend? You know the other girl that was with you?"

"Yeah. Is she OK?"

Deidara turned his head back. "Hmph. Hell if I know. She looks alright. A little hurt, some scratches, bruising, especially on her arm. She just hasn't woken up yet."

"Well, where is she?"

"In the medical room, still out pretty hard." He started on his way out. "You ought to go back to sleep. You still look a little hurt and tired. It's not like we're going to let you walk around base anyway."

Ruth glared at Deidara's back as he left. _Bastard_, she thought. She turned her head as she felt someone right next to her. Tobi had grabbed his tea and made himself comfortable next to her. "Tobi?"

"I'll stay here and keep you company!" Tobi chirped cheerfully.

After Tobi's announcement of him staying, everything went silent again. Ruth could only think about where her friend was and if she was alright. They were in the Akatsuki base, and by the sounds of it, Itachi and Kisame (the _real_ Itachi and Kisame) didn't plan to keep them around long.

"So, do you know anything else about me? Or Deidara-sempai?" Tobi turned his head away, shifted his mask to the side, and sipped his tea, but was still intently listening.

"Well, I both know that you're in the Akatsuki, and that Deidara had a partner before you..." Ruth kept her eyes on the ground as she tried to remember.

"Oh. You mean Sasori-san? Sempai always mentions him. Sempai always says he doesn't like me and wishes he had Sasori-san back. I think he misses Sasori-san a lot." Tobi chuckled. "Maybe they were dating or something."

Ruth blinked. "I. I don't know."

"So, where are you from?"

"Erm..."

"Come _ooon. _What village are you from? The Flower Village? The Leaf Village? The Village of the Sand?"

"No..."

"Then where could you be from? We never get foreigners around here."

"Tobi, I don't know if you would understand if I told you exactly where I was from."

With that, the conversation fell silent again. Tobi sat there, sipping his tea and thinking over what Ruth had said.

"You're weird," he said after a while.

Tobi's foolishness made Ruth smile. He wasn't much different than in the manga after all. "Tobi?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know whew my friend is?"

"Yeah. Deidara told you, didn't he?"

"Well, could you take me to visit her? I'm worried about her."

Tobi slipped his mask back over his face. "I don't know. I don't think the leader or Deidara-Sempai would like me taking prisoners anywhere in the base. Can't trust you after all."

"Please, Tobi? I'm worried about her..."

Tobi turned back towards the girl. Her eyes were downcast. She looked like she might start crying. He tried not to sigh. "Oh, alright." He stood up. "Come on. Don't take too long, now. I can't let anyone see you."

Ruth followed Tobi to the doorway of the room. Tobi glanced around out in the hallway, and then grabbed Ruth's hand. "Come on!"

Tobi took off like lightning. He dashed loudly down hallway, his feet thumping on the wood floor. Ruth had such a hard time keeping up with his fast pace as she was dragged along behind him that it felt like her feet were floating in the air.

Finally, Tobi stopped at a door far down the maze of halls. Ruth, unable to stop herself, crashed into him, but his body didn't budge. "Here we are!" he practically yelled, as if though he were trying to signal to someone else that Ruth was somewhere she wasn't supposed to be.

Ruth gained her senses back again after running into Tobi. The door was shabby. It was painted a dull green, but a lot of the paint had chipped off. A window space in the door was covered by filthy brown mesh that couldn't be seen through. Nailed onto the door was a simple white piece of paper that had a red plus sign drawn on it.

Tobi dragged Ruth into the room and quietly shut the door. Ruth could see a lump in one of the beds, curled up under the off-white bedsheets. She walked quickly over to it and threw her arms on it. "Abby!"

"Abby? That's a weird name. I've never heard anyone called that around here before." commented Tobi as he approached the bed.

Ruth ignored Tobi and started to try and shake Abby awake. "Abby?" She called over and over again.

Eventually, Abby's face twitched with life. She groaned very quietly as her eyes started to flutter open. "Abby!" Ruth cried happily as she slammed herself onto her friend, hugging her."

"Ugh, Ruth? Hey, Ruth. It's good to see you..."

As the two girls had a happy reunion, Tobi started to make his way out. "I'll just let you guys relax in here," he said, barely high enough for them to hear as he walked out. "I have some business to attend to, anyway."

"Pein? Pein!" he shouted into the dark room as he slammed the door shut. He pulled his orange mask off and put it inside his cloak. "Pein, you idiot, where are you? You know I'm here and you know what I want to discuss."

"Yes, Madara-san. I'm here." Pein's quiet voice echoed as a candle lit up, revealing his face, his piercings glimmering in the dim candlelight, and his eyes staring right at Madara. "Have you found anything out about those girls?"

"Nothing at all. The one with the long hair answered my questions, but she was vague. Some crap about how I 'wouldn't understand' if she told me. Does she think I'm an idiot?"

"Madara..."

"Oh, right. She also seemed to know who Deidara and I were, and what the Akatsuki was. It worries me deeply that she won't reveal any information about herself, but knows about us."

"Right, and the fact that neither of the two of them had headbands on their person and that strange box full of pornography... Specifically some of it of us. It's very disturbing."

"Well, Pein. You're the leader here," Madara teased as he found his way to the wall and leaned against it. "What do you suppose we do with them?"

"Well, obviously, we can't just let them go. They might be enemy spies and detail back information of where we are to someone."

"Just like that little brat we caught with them would have done had we let him live."

"However, I think that maybe they might be kin to us. The fact that they had no headbands at all might signal that they have abandoned their villages. Maybe why they didn't want to say anything about themselves is because they thought we might turn them in."

"You aren't saying we keep them, are you?"

"I have a feeling we might have a couple potentially good members here. I'll tell you what. Let them heal up here and then maybe let the show off their skills. I'm sure they'll be useful for something. If anything, we could use them to scout out areas. They both look too innocent to be considered a threat by anyone."

"Hmph. I don't like the look of them. They look like a couple of brats." Madara sighed. "But, it's your 'master plan' after all. I'll keep one of them under my eye, and you can put the other one wherever." Madara turned away from Pein and started to head towards the door. "I don't think those two can bring any sort of skills to the table, but I think they'll at least bring someone here some entertainment."

Abby turned over and groaned. "Hmmph," she growled. "Why is this bed so hard?"

"Well, it could be that you're not in bed anymore."

"Huh?" Abby sat up. She saw that in front of her was a man kneeling down. A large eye-hole in his orange, swirled mask stared back at her. She almost jumped at seeing his face. "Who are you?"

The masked man sat down and made himself comfortable. "Well, my name is Tobi, and I'm your roommate while you're staying here."

Abby's mouth fell slightly open and she blinked. "T-Tobi? _The_ Tobi of the Akatsuki? The good boy Tobi?"

Tobi smiled behind his mask. "Well, I can't say that I'm a good boy, but sure." He chuckled. "You know who I am. That's pretty weird, seeing as I haven't seen you before."

Abby went speechless and started to mumble. She was here with the anime man of her dreams. And he was in the flesh! He stared at her for another minute or so. For some reason, she couldn't happen having Tobi stare at her, so she laid back down and tried to curl up into a ball, mumbling, "Tobi-chan..."

Tobi grimaced. "Um... I think you're still sick. Why don't I get you a blanket and make you some tea?"

"Uh-huh, that'd be nice," Abby mumbled without a shred of intellect, nodding her head.

Tobi went to go get some tea cooking in the small room used for cooking next door. His red eye peaked out from inside his mask. He didn't like this girl at all. She was a freak. He sighed as he sat and waited for the water to boil. It was like he said after all. Maybe these two girls could bring someone here some entertainment.

**Author's Note:**

**It's good to be back with a new chapter! Sorry to keep you guys waiting so long. I'll try to maybe update a little more often. I hope you liked this chapter and can't wait for the next one! :3 ~Dot-Sensei**


	4. Chapter 4

Pein stared down at the girl that sat kneeling on the ground. She was panting heavily, and her body was dirty and bruised. Her clothing was ripped. Pein frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Is that the best you can do?"

Ruth stood up and met Pein's glare. "I think that's pretty impressive, if I say so myself."

Kisame, Itachi, and Hidan stood around. Hidan swung his scythe around and placed it behind his back. "Pfft. It sure _was _impressive, kid. Impressive as shit."

"A whole three minutes, and all you do is try hand-to-hand combat and dodge everything," add Kisame He smiled at Ruth, paying close attention to the cuts on her hands, arms, and legs. "As I think you can tell, that doesn't quite work against Samehada."

"And not one display of any sort of jutsu. You're a strange one, child."

Ruth growled. Ignoring her anger at them, Kisame and Hidan led Ruth towards the medical room. They tried to keep in front of her, but Ruth would just pridefully stomp ahead of them. Eventually, the trio reached the medical room. Kisame and Hiden left Ruth in the hands of Konan, smiling to themselves as they left, knowing that the girl was glaring at their backs.

Konan tried not to sigh. "You're stupid," she eventually admitted as she wrapped up Ruth's wounds. "Why are you so upset at being beaten so horribly when you didn't even try to do anything?"

Ruth stayed silent.

"You know, the leader won't be pleased to keep you around if you don't prove yourself."

Ruth sighed and was about to give Konan a piece of her mind before Abby and Tobi walked in.

"Tobi, please. You don't have to follow me around everywhere," Abby groaned as Tobi was right behind her, trampling along like a puppy.

"But, you're injured! I can't have you going out anywhere on your own. You might fall!" He paused. He suddenly grabbed Abby's shoulders and his tone grew serious, his voice went a little lower than normal. "And besides, you might escape if I don't watch you. I can't have anyone escaping."

Abby was slightly flushed, but shook herself out of Tobi's grip and went to Ruth. "Hey, you. Are you alright? I heard about what Pein made you do, and that you got hurt pretty badly."

"Hmph, I'm fine," said Ruth, keeping her eyes turned away.

Abby and Ruth sat and talked. Ruth never made eye contact and answered in small fragments and grunts. Tobi and Konan sat with them, Tobi intent on listening in case any important information was leaked and Konan sitting around, quietly sipping tea.

As the girls' chatter grew more silent and awkward, Konan finally break in with: "Girls, do either of you really know jutsu?"

Both girls froze up. Ruth looked to Abby, but her eyes were slightly darting around the room, trying to think of a reason.

"Well..." began Ruth.

Tobi smiled beneath his mask. _Hmph. I guess we have you backed into a corner. _He tried not to giggle. _I can't wait to see what you two come up with. Come on, humor me!_

"Well what?" said Konan, impatiently raising an eyebrow.

Abby sighed and was about to admit the truth, but Ruth broke in with, "Of course! We've just been so exhausted and injured, that our chakra has been off balance. We've only been here maybe a week. Suddenly trying to battle us won't sudden make us able to do it."

Tobi kept his gaze on Ruth, as did Konan. Both of them expected her to crack, but her face stayed straight.

"Alright then. You'll have to forgive the leader for being so careless in suddenly giving you a test like that, Ruth. But, you should have said something. The leader might have not done that if you did."

"I don't want to look like a wuss in front of you people. He probably wouldn't have believed me. Hell, you probably don't believe me."

Konan stayed silent. The girl did have a point. Someone not being able to use jutsu wasn't a claim you would take seriously.

The conversation died after that. Eventually, Konan left Ruth alone. Ruth and Abby stayed together for a while, eyes downcast. Would that lie even work out?

Ruth smiled. If anything, it might give them extra time to do _something._ Ruth didn't know what that something was, but she knew she couldn't stay in this base forever. They weren't in a dream. They were in the real _Naruto _world. They had to abide by the world's rules, and they could easily get killed in this world.

Ruth turned her eyes to Abby. She could feel the hope rising in her, the fear growing in her stomach. She had an idea.

"Abby, quit sitting around!" Tobi yanked his "prisoner" to her feet. "I don't want to stand here and watch you two sit around," he whined, which Abby saw as slightly adorable. "Come on. Leave Ruth alone."

Ruth now sat in her room. She rubbed her bandaged arms and looked over to the box in the corner. It was the box of yaoi that had been dragged along with Abby and her. It reminded her of the job she had left behind. She flinched. How much time had passed back home? Was her family worried about her? Abby's family? Mr. Bales?

The door slammed open and Ruth squeaked. She turned around to find Hidan, holding a steaming bowl of rice. "Hmph, here's your food, dumbass."

Ruth stared at his narrowed pink eyes. She smiled. "Hidan?"

"I'm going to throw this rice at you if you don't get up and get it right now."

Ruth got up and walked up to Hiden. She grabbed the bowl from him, and he immediately turned to leave. "Hidan?" she said again.

"What?" he groaned, not bothering to turn to face her.

"Are you going out on a mission anytime soon?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I wanna go with you."

The two stayed silent for a couple long, awkward minutes before Hidan started to snicker. Ruth frowned. "What's so funny about that?"

Hiden started to laugh more. "Yeah, yeah...Let me take along the kid that can't even use jutsu or even defend herself out on a mission where I could get caught and killed." His laughter was bellowing out now. "Yeah, let me do that!"

Hiden caught laughing and was too busy to see Ruth had set her rice down and was coming towards him. He didn't stop laughing until Ruth punched him in the back. Hiden gagged, trembled, and fell down.

"Bitch!" he coughed as he started to get up.

"Don't you _dare_ call me weak. I'll happily kick your ass and prove it to you."

Ruth cracked her knuckles. Hidan stood up, glanced at her, and chuckled. "Hmph, whatever." he grabbed the door. "I'd like to see you prove that, kid."

The door slammed shut. Ruth stared at it in anger before throwing her fist into it, hissing as he hand started to hurt. _I'll show you. I'll show you, alright!_

Days had passed by slowly. Ruth spent those days sitting her room, pondering over her escape plan. Abby had pointed out when the two were finally alone that despite the fact that they had been allowed to go around parts of the base, that they never saw an exit to the outside world. Ruth didn't know if this was intentional of them, but she had to admit it was crafty. She would constantly think about what life was like at home, if there were search parties out for Abby and her or if no time had passed at all. At some point, she couldn't bare to lay her eyes on the box of manga in the corner without getting upset.

The days passed into a couple of weeks and Ruth's injuries from her practice fight were healing up. Ruth constantly glared at Itachi, Kisame, and Hidan any time she saw them. Kisame and Itachi didn't care for her immature anger and Hidan found it funny and took pride in being able to make her upset so easily. She couldn't help but glare at them when everyone, Ruth and Abby included, were called to the living room of the base.

The members did little talking and did it amongst themselves. Ruth's eyes kept shifting everywhere, and eventually they fell on Abby, who was sitting right next to her. She was frowning, worried about Ruth.

"What is it?" Ruth said, quietly as not to draw attention to them.

"Are you OK? Your hand looks worse than I remember it being."

"I'm fine." Ruth rubbed her hand, which was bruised and slightly swollen from punching the door. "Hidan being a jackass stops being funny when you start being on the receiving end of it."

Abby looked down, and then looked back up and scooted even closer to Ruth. Her words were soft, and Ruth had to pay close attention to hear her. "Why did you lie to them?"

Ruth glanced down and frowned. "I was afraid."

"Of what?"

"That they would have done something to us, since we're pretty useless to them."

"Ruth, maybe we should just tell them-"

"Tell us what?"

Tobi suddenly came up behind the two girls, wrapping his arms around them. The girls both screamed and nearly jumped up. Tobi glanced back and forth between them as they caught their breath. "Tell us what? What's such a big secret over here, hm?"

"Tobi, please, go away!" said Abby.

Tobi leaned in, nearly pressing his masked face onto hers. "Why? Don't you like me? Aren't I being a good roommate and taking care of you?"

To Ruth's chagrin, Tobi was succeeding in making Abby blush. She tried to say something back, but everything came out as confused babble.

Humored enough with Abby, Tobi turned to Ruth. "My my, aren't you looking a lot better?" he asked. "You've healed well from your defeat. Not even a little bit of scarring! I'm impressed."

Ruth tried not to flinch. "Th-Thank you, Tobi..."

"Don't you think it's maybe time for a rematch? You look healed enough. Maybe you can finally use your jutsu."

"Shit!" Ruth hissed quietly.

But it was too late. Tobi had caught everyone else's attention and all eyes were on her now.

"I..."

"What's wrong? Are you nervous?"

Ruth glanced around and caught site of the three who had beaten her badly.

_I'd like to see you prove that, kid._

"Nothing," Ruth finally said. "I think it's unfair to face off against Kisame, Itachi, and Hidan together. After all, they're extremely strong. I don't think I can beat them, not this time, not ever."

Ruth smiled internally. Maybe this would stop them from inquiring.

Itachi stepped forward. "Oh, is that so? Then how about a one-on-one match?"

Ruth jumped a little and barely stopped herself from cussing again. "Uh, sure! I can take you any day, Itachi!"

The corners of Itachi's mouth bent into a small smile. "Very well then. We can arrange to have a fight, and you can show just how strong you are to Pein."

"Hmph," Ruth stood up after a moment of silence and faced Itachi, smiling. "Very well then. You want a public show of me kicking your ass? You can have it that way."

Everyone was shocked into silence. Itachi frowned with shock. No one had guessed Ruth would be so cocky towards someone who had beaten her badly.

"Hmph. Alright then." Itachi opened his eyes slowly and glared at his future opponent. "Next time I catch you, Ruth, I will beat you. I will beat you mercilessly. I will not spare from killing you, unless you can put up a good fight." With that, Itachi left.

"Why did you do that, Ruth?!" Abby angrily whispered at her friend after Itachi left.

"I don't know, but I'll be fine. I know how to fight."

"But...Itachi knows jutsu..."

"If I get him down before he does any jutsu, I'll be fine."

The two stopped at Abby's door.

"Ruth, I'm scared."

"Abby, I'll be fine." She smiled at her friend. "I'm tough. I won't go down without a fight."

Abby gave a tiny smile, and then went into her room. She shut the door behind her, leaned against the door, sighed, and frowned. "Oh, Ruth..."

"What happened?"

"Huh?" Abby looked up to see that Tobi was sitting at the table in the middle of their room. He had just finished adjusting his mask after having a cup of tea.

"Oh, were you talking to Ruth about something?"

"Oh, we were just talking about her battle with Itachi," said Abby as she went to the table and sat down across from Tobi. "I don't want her to do it. I think it was reckless of her to challenge him like that."

"And what were you two talking about before I came up to you two earlier?"

Abby went silent.

"Well?"

"Nothing."

Abby felt herself growing nervous as she stared at Tobi. She couldn't see his expression, and this made her feel worse.

She felt something hard hit her leg. "Ah!"

"Will you tell me, Abby-chan?"

She brought her legs close to her body. "I..."

"Abby."

She sighed. "We were talking about how we actually don't know any jutsu."

"Hm." Tobi stood up.

"T-Tobi?"

Without a word, Tobi came around the table and yanked Abby to her feet. He started to drag her towards the door, Abby helplessly flailing in his grasp.

Ruth was relaxing in her room when she heard the sudden hard opening of a door and voices. She quickly crawled to her door and cracked it open to peer out.

"Mmph, Tobi, please let go of me. Where are you taking me?" Abby begged.

No answer.

Ruth sat frozen as she watched Tobi drag Abby down the darkened hallway. She pushed her door open and sprang out, sprawling onto the floor before quickly jumping up and rushing after the two.

Abby tried her best to struggle, but nothing seemed to beat Tobi's strength and she gave up. She tried to keep up with Tobi's quick walk, but eventually she was being dragged along behind him. They went from the hallways down to the living room. They turned sharply down another hallway and went towards the medical room, and then passed it's mesh-covered window. They continued down the pitch black hallway. They suddenly stopped and Abby tried to pull away as Tobi worked at a latched door. The door opened, and Abby felt the cold night breeze against her face and body. The smell of grass filled her nose as she and Tobi filed down into woods, unaware that Ruth was chasing after them.

Ruth couldn't keep up. She slammed into the door. She shoved it open and continued on, rubbing her cheek.

Eventually she had to stop. She had lagged too far behind them and had lost track of them. Abby had stopped making noise, so she had no idea which way they headed. Ruth groaned and fell onto the ground, sitting down. She hung her head between her knees. "I'll get you, Tobi. If you hurt her, I'll get you..."

Suddenly, there was a hard rustling straight ahead. Ruth's head shot up. She stood up and took a couple cautionary steps towards it. "Abby? Abby, are you alright?"

Suddenly, her arm started to sting and her heard a thump. She look to her left and saw that a kunai had whizzed by her, cutting open her arm.

"What are you doing out here?"

Ruth looked up. It was Itachi. In the night wind, his hair and cloak fluttered. His eyes stared into her. "Why are you out here, especially at night?"

Ruth immediately took a fighting stance. She cracked her knuckles. She had to be quick to attack him, before he could use any jutsu. If he got one move on her, she'd be dead.

"Hiyah!" cried Ruth as she charged at Itachi. She swung to go straight for his stomach, but he easily grabbed her fist. He nonchalantly shoved her back, sending Ruth stumbling to the ground.

"So, you're trying to escape." He made a hand sign and brought it to his chest. "Sharingan!"

Ruth looked up and saw Itachi's glaring red eyes.

"I told you that I would battle you the next time I saw you. That time has come. And as I said, I will not spare killing you. I have to kill you now. I can't let you escape."

Tobi finally stopped dragging Abby along when they reached a large clearing. He let go of her and walked ahead of her. He went about ten steps, ending up just under a tree, and then turned around to face her. "Abby."

"T-Tobi?"

"We're going to be here a while."

Tobi reached for his mask and tore it off. The upper part of his face was covered in shadow from the tree. "Abby, listen to me. I now give you two choices. You can either stay with me and I will teach you jutsu." He stepped out from the shade of the tree and Abby saw his deep black eyes staring intently at her. "Or I can kill you where you stand for trying to escape."

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It look a really long time to type out. ^^;**

**So, I'm going to do something that I did in the last fan fiction, but never went really through on. I want fan suggestions of what type of jutsu Abby should learn. I'll pick my favorite, and that's the jtusu type she'll be learning. I can't wait to see your suggestions!**

Thanks for reading!

-Dot-Sensei


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